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Still in Rochefort but aiming to leave soon.  We now have a decent size awning made from a white tarp and have refitted the tillerpilot to give us electronic self steering to complement the wind vane steering.  The linkage for the tillerpilot is a recycled 49er tiller extension (thanks Matt) so is light but it is quite long so there is some play and we will need to do some trials to see how well it works. Below is a photo of Mango with the new awning up.

Moored in Rochefort harbour with awning

 

 

We have been in Rochefort longer than expected, but have had a side trip to Cognac to visit friends of friends who live there which was great.  We have also both passed the CEVNI tests, though have not found somewhere to print of the certificates yet!

Autumn in the air

Woke up this morning to a nip in the air and mist curling of the river
as it flowed passed the harbour entrance on the ebb. The concert last
night in a park next to the harbour was OK after the sound check
leading us to expect that the bass would be shaking the rivets out of
the mast.
Tested our 12 volt kettle yesterday - works but interminably slow so is
really only of use if we are short of fuel for the stove and there is
lots of power going in to the batteries. Also replaced the carpet in
the galley with some material for bathroom and kitchen floors (with
dolphins on it) which we hope will be more hygenic and survive being
deluged with sea water better.

Rochefort update

Just had a night of heavy rain showers which we thought had ended and
THEN, just when we thought it was all clearing, we got with almost no
warning a vicious squall come over complete with big hail stones. The
upside is that it looks as if my leak curing efforts have been succesful!
Helen has passed the test for the CEVNI qualification we need to go
through the canals so we are getting close to being ready to go. I will
also have a go at the test after a bit of revision now the books are free.

Canal preparations in Rochefort

We are back in Rochefort to get some new glasses for Robert, check that we can actually fit through the canals and get some jobs done prior to going through the canals.  We now have a pilot for the Garonne, a better awning over the boat and hope to get the tiller pilot sorted out finally.  We also had the opportunity to visit friends in Cognac which was a very enjoyable side trip, especially as we discovered that you can get a very cheap rail ticket to travel any where in the region.
Below is a photo of the commercial ship that passed us just as we were about to leave the pontoon to go into the lock.

The wash was actually not as bad as we had got from passing pleasure motor boats!
The people we have met in Rochefort have been very helpful and friendly and everything is close to the harbour so it is proving, as we expected, a relaxing place to catch up and the market is fabulous.  Apparently the guided tour around the interior of the l'Hermione (the 1778 frigate) is very good so we will do that if we have time.

Dolphins video

My first attempt at editing and a very early attempt at using the video recorder.  I forgot to take the lens cap off before pressing record and so lost a lot of the action.

Photo uploads

We have uploaded some photos after reducing the size as we have limited bandwidth.  Below are some photos of La Rochelle. There are photos from the ile d'Aix and Charente in earlier posts, in case you have not seen them.

Berthed in Minimes marina, La Rochelle

La Rochelle from medieval light house

solar powered water taxi leaving La Rochelle harbour

View from Tour de la Chaine La Rochelle

Back at Rivedoux Plage Sud

We had a pleasant day on the boat yesterday, other than at the end when
we got stuck between the sea breeze and the land breeze and ended up
motoring as we could see boats sailing all around us but the wind was
not getting to us.
In contrast to our trip up the Charente we had no wind until we reached
the mouth of the esturary so had to motor most of the way. But the
promised clear skies materialised from the start and stayed with us till
the sun went down. We had hoped to have a couple of hours in Rochefort
before leaving, but were not quick enough to get the last space on the
waiting pontoon (next time we will go out the evening before) so missed
out on the tuesday market.
Unfortunately I lost my glasses the day before when I offered to catch a
mooring line for a British boat which had messed up coming in to the
pontoon and the crew through the heavy warp directly at me and it hit me
in the face; this is the first time I have lost glasses in about 30
years of being on the water (usually without them tied on). I did have
a spare pair but they took a bit of finding.
This morning we woke up to a thunder storm going along the island, but
fortunately missing us; this was forecast for tonight and tomorrow so we
are hoping that it has been and gone, but I am not optimistic.

 Today we are revising the regulations for the inland waterways so that
we can get the CEVNI certificate we need to do the Canal du Midi.
We had a welcome break from our revision when 'Grey Dove' a Heavenly Twins motored over to have a chat. They sailed here from Oban and are intending travelling through the Midi next year, so we had an interesting chat..